Working with Objects

What do we mean by objects? Here we mean objects that appear on the sky map,
discrete radio sources found in a cosmic radio source catalog, pulsars, the Sun,
Jupiter, and the Moon. Generally, these represent entities limited in angular
extent that we can detect with a radiotelescope (or least somebody can detect
them with a radiotelescope). The difference between catalog radio sources and
pulsars is an artificial one. Both are actually discrete radio sources and both
appear in catalogs, but we separate them in this program because each group
holds a special interest to some observers. The Sun, Jupiter, and the Moon are
the only planetary radio sources that are likely to be detectable with a small
radiotelescope. The other planets are excluded because their emissions are very
weak.

Catalog radio sources (usually just referred to as radio sources in this
program) occur outside of the solar system. Some, such as supernova remnants
occur in our own Milky Way galaxy while others such as quasars may occur at the
far reaches of the universe. These sources, along with the pulsars, move very
little in position over time from from our perspective because because of the
great distances at which they are found from us. Thus we can assume that from
year to year their positions on the celestial globe will remain the same. These
sources are represented on the sky map as small circles. You can define a
different color circle for radio sources and pulsars. Very strong radio sources
are assigned a slightly large circle. Optionally the circle can be filled in
with color. Color and fill in are defined in the Color Options panel.

The Sun, Jupiter, and Moon are the "wanderers". Their
positions require calculations for a very specific time and even the viewers
position on the Earth. The objects generally are found close the the plane of
the solar system that we call the ecliptic. Displaying the ecliptic line can
make it easier to spot the icons representing these solar system objects.

Finding an ObjectBy Name - If you know the name of an object
you can use the Find feature (CTRL+F or via the Tools menu) to locate it on the
screen. If matches to your search string are found, you will receive the
Select Source list box (see below) with the matching objects in the list.By Position - If you know the object's
position coordinates, you can use the RADEC boxes at the bottom of the screen to
guide your mouse to the proper location, or you can specify a location using the
Right Mouse Menu obtained by right clicking on
the sky map and selecting Manual RADEC Entry. This will place the center of the
screen at the specified location.

Listing Objects in a Specific Area
You may list objects from a specific area of the screen by placing the mouse
cursor near the object and right clicking to receive the Right
Mouse Menu. Click on the menu entry "Info". A list
will be displayed showing all objects within the immediate area of the mouse in a
panel called the Select Source panel.. The area covered by the list
depends on the level to which you have zoomed the screen. A full sky map will
likely bring up more objects in a crowded region of the sky than if you are
zoomed in on the area. You may only receive one object in the list or no objects
whatsoever if the mouse cursor was not close enough to an object.

The Select Source panel is scrollable with the up down arrow keys after
any item in the list has been selected. Make sure you scroll down the
list to see all listed objects. To move the Select Source panel to a
different place on the sky map, drag it using the upper left corner. Often you will be looking for the stronger
sources so you can usually judge which source you want by its flux listing even
if the name is unknown to you. You can sort the list of sources in the Select
Source panel by clicking on any of the column headers. So if you want to
list items by flux values click on the Flux column header. If you wish to
sort the column in the reverse order click on the same column header
again. Pulsars will only show up on the list if you have
elected to Show Pulsars under View/ Pulsars/ Show Pulsars on the program
main menu.

You can populate the Select Source panel in two additional ways:

You may have the list show all objects within the defined antenna beam
pattern. List Sources in Beam is a Right
Mouse Menu item. You can also press the
button that appears in the toolbar.

You may list all sources on the visible sky map region by pressing
button in the toolbar.

Using the Select Source Panel
The Select Source panel is your gateway to getting more information about an
object and to performing some basic tasks related to the object. To select a given source, and thus have the functions of the Select
Source panel apply to that source, you must highlight (click on) the source in
the list that you want to use. Once the source is you want is highlighted press
the right mouse button and you will see a dropdown menu with
the following functions:

Hide List - Makes the list disappear.

Obtain More Info - Selecting More
Info or double clicking on the source in the list will bring up a
HTML window that displays available information about the source. Read about
More Info windows here..

Point To - Starts an animated cursor that points to the object. This is very
handy for identifying the object in a crowded field of objects.